Two property studies, two different questions
A reading card by Ahmadreza Samadi

Start with the decision. Choose the study whose measure fits your question.

QUESTION 1 — How much income do renters spend on housing?
The rent-burden study describes 386 US metro areas using 2024 Census ACS B25070 estimates. The displayed percentages use units with computable rent-to-income ratios. Units marked “not computed” are kept separate. The 50%+ group is already inside the 30%+ group: do not add those percentages together.

These are survey point estimates. The study does not calculate margins of error for the derived percentages, so a difference between two displayed values does not establish a statistically significant difference.

READ THE UNCERTAINTY IN THE SAME UNITS
A source estimate of 1,000 housing units with a margin of error of 100 housing units is a fictional count example. The margin is in units, not percentage points. A separate derived share of 60% does not inherit that count margin as “60% ± 100 percentage points”. Nor does relabeling the count margin as 10 percentage points establish a valid uncertainty calculation for the share.

The CSV keeps each source E estimate with its matching M margin-of-error column. These describe source counts. The two burden shares use a denominator that excludes not-computed units; this study has not calculated their percentage margins of error. Keep that uncertainty unknown rather than supplying zero, and do not use these point estimates alone to declare one metro statistically different from another. All numerical examples in this section are fictional teaching values, not new metro observations.

QUESTION 2 — What might remain under a chosen ownership budget?
The ownership study covers 393 metros and three hypothetical scenarios. It combines HUD FY2027 two-bedroom gross-rent benchmarks with a 2024 ACS owner-stock value proxy. These are different inputs, not an observed purchase and rent for the same property.

Read the selected down payment, interest, occupancy and cost assumptions before comparing a surplus range. Surplus is after mortgage principal and interest; it is not accounting profit or total return. A zero cost is a chosen assumption, not proof that the cost does not exist.

BEFORE USING EITHER TABLE
• Keep the populations separate: 386 and 393 metros are not one matched dataset.
• Treat “Unavailable” as missing information, not zero.
• Use the full CSV and method to see the columns omitted from the short display.
• Do not turn alphabetical results into an investment ranking or forecast.

Sources and scope:
Rent-burden release and methodology:
https://github.com/ahmadreza-smdi/metro-rent-burden/releases/tag/v1.1.1
Ownership study, scenarios and limitations:
https://a-samadi.com/studies/rent-own-2026/

This card explains those studies. It is not a new analysis, financial recommendation or claim about a particular property.